Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes that the ongoing situation arising from the Pakistan Cricket Board filing an official complaint for “inappropriate conduct” would not have been an issue if they had won the match against arch-rivals India in Ahmedabad. Pakistan’s winning streak in the ongoing World Cup came to an end at the hands of Men in Blue after they suffered a seven-wicket defeat last Saturday. On Tuesday, PCB took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the news.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has once again lodged a formal protest with the ICC over delays in visas for Pakistani journalists and the absence of a visa policy for Pakistani fans for the ongoing 2023 World Cup. The PCB has also filed a complaint alleging inappropriate conduct targeting on Pakistan team during India-Pakistan match on October 14, 2023,” PCB posted from the X handle.
Panesar told ANI, “If Pakistan won, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, it’s just a matter of victory or defeat.”
On Pakistan’s much-vaunted bowling line-up failing to deliver the goods in the thrilling clash against the hosts, Panesar said, “Pakistan has the strongest bowling line-up but the pressure of the ICC tournament got to them. Big players are freezing under such pressure, so you have to have courage.”
The likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan looked like easy meat for the Indian batters, especially skipper Rohit Sharma, as they reached the modest target of 192 with almost 20 overs to spare.
After Men in Green suffered a crushing defeat, Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur expressed his dissatisfaction with the partisan crowd.
Arthur didn’t mince his words and said at the post-match press conference: ‘Look, I’d be lying if I said that. To be honest it didn’t seem like an ICC event. It seemed like a bilateral series; it looked like a BCCI event. I didn’t hear Dil Dil Pakistan coming through the microphones that much tonight.’
Pakistan will be hoping to bounce back from the defeat to India in their next World Cup match against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
